Joey,
Your original thoughts about adopting a timber frame building system are not misplaced. Do not let the fog of code speak cloud your vision. Engineers are out there to help you achieve your dreams and not to snuff them out.
You do need to recognise the reality that most people do not tend to live in open sided timber framed structures and from a historical perspective there nearly always has been a significant contribution made to the structural performance of every timber framed buildings by the diaphragm stiffening action provided by some form of sheathing, panel infill or even stone walls thereby creating a whole composite structure.
It can be difficult to master the art of employing modelling software to replicate the real life performance of composite structures, especially in respect of load sharing and behaviour assumptions. The verification of modelling assumptions is still a long way from being complete and this is almost certainly the case with straw bale construction.
My suggestion to you is to define exactly what it is that you want to do. Look around for other building precedents and examine them in detail to see how they are performing and only then take counsel from someone who can demonstrate that they really understand the performance of the type of the building system that you are proposing to adopt.
The marriage between timber framed buildings (barns) and straw is one which has a long history, its just that in the past the straw was viewed as a crop rather than a building component. Farmers have long recognised that straw contributes greatly towards the structural peformance of the barn especially when it needs it most (winter). Full barns are much better able to stand up to the rigours of high winds and snow loads than empty ones. Your proposal is therefore akin to building a timber framed building (barn) with no outside walls or sheathing and filled only with a part load of straw positioned around the perimeter. In this scenario the timber frame structure will be expected to contribute a lot more towards achieving suitable structural performance than other similar timber framed buildings located in non seismic regions. Barns usually have some form of sheathing or wall system which in your case you are proposing to substitute with straw bales. For straw bales to work well in diaphragm action it is necesary to contain and restrain them thus some form of additional wall stiffening will most likely need to be provided anyway.
Please don't lose heart. You are now beginning to face up to some of the quite complicated issues that need to be recognised, understood and then overcome in order to achieve a satisfactory outcome.
Regards
Ken Hume P.Eng.
